Oscar Wilde

Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde - author, conversationalist, poet, critic and gay. He is eccentric and flamboyant, often at odds with the pompous society that surrounded him. Many a things were said about his extravagant and unconventional behaviour but to ignore his masterpiece is a fallacy that appeals to a person (my TSK students would know this ;-)). Here are some of his wicked wit (taken from 'The wicked wit of Oscar Wilde"):

The bond of all companionship, whether in marriage or in friendship, is conversation.

De Profundis

I would not have about me shallow fools,

Who with mean scruples weigh the gold of life,

And faltering, paltering, end by failure.

The Duchess of Padua

We all take such pains to over-educate ourselves. In the wild struggle for existence, we want to have something that endures, and so fill our minds with rubbish and facts, in the silly hope of keeping our place.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

(I of course don't agree to that but he just put is so eloquently that I had to put it in)

I can stand brute force, but brute reason is quite unbearable. There is something unfair about its use. It is hitting below the intellect.

The Picture of Dorian Gray

Men become old, but they never become good.

A Woman of No Importance

Women are never disarmed by compliments. Men always are. That is the difference between the two sexes.

The Ideal Husband

I hate vulgar realism in literature. The man who could call a spade a spade should be compelled to use one. It is the only thing he is fit for.

The Picture of Dorian Gray